The Cellist
by a62belle
Summary: He fell in love with a woman, she was supposed to be his soulmate. She ended up his worst enemy. Skoulson
1. Chapter 1

"Anyone seen A.C.?" Skye askes rushing down to the lab, where Simmons examining the specifications of a 084.

"Who?" Simmons replies, not quite paying attention to the flustered young woman near her.

"Agent Coulson, have you seen him? There's something absolutely important he needs to see."

"Haven't seen him since," Simmons pauses for a while, they haven't seen him for a long time, "last week, Monday's lunch remember? Perhaps he's in his office?"

Skye shakes her head vigorously, balancing her new, more powerful but much bulkier laptop, "I just checked, he hasn't been there in a while, trust me, after all, as Deputy Director, I'm supposed to share his office."

"Try the Cage, he might be interrogating Ward again," shouts a voice from the cargo ramp Skye faintly recognises as Triplett's, she's not too used to his voice yet.

Skye nods slightly, running towards the Cage. Barging the door open, she hears Coulson shouting at Ward.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's something you got to see," she announces, wincing slightly at the sight of Ward. To think that she had actually kissed that traitor _thrice_.

Coulson nods curtly, moving out of the Cage. Skye examines him slowly, not having seen him for two weeks. He looks tired, eye bags and that haggard face, but blue eyes still watching, thinking, calculating, shirt and trousers still pristine, shoes still polished to perfection. He isn't wearing a coat or tie because he thought Ward might use that as an advantage against him if he somehow managed to break free of his handcuffs.

"What's the matter?" He asks, sharply, not intending to hurt but nevertheless doing so.

Skye simply lifts her computer up to a comfortable position on the bar-table, and plays the video.

"Oh my god," is all he manages to say, effectively stunned.

* * *

Grant Ward, Agent of Hydra, had a simple platinum band in his pocket when he was captured. He still took it out when Coulson or May or Triplett weren't pounding him for answers. He still admires it, it makes him think of his beautiful fiancee back home, with her platinum ring and diamond cut into the shape of a flower. He shouldn't have trusted Garrett's leadership skills, he thinks, perhaps if he hadn't, he might be a happily married family man by now, his fiancee could be Mrs. Audrey Nathan Ward. He had always joked with her about it.

Of course, he had never loved Skye, perhaps as a sibling, but then again, all his siblings had either been cruel or weak. Skye had always been a weakling.

Garrett didn't know it, but his real name isn't even Grant, it's Edgar.

But he didn't like the idea of sharing a name with a stuffy old saint so he chose a more fitting, or so he thinks, name for himself.

Only his love knew. And all this while, he had to share her with Coulson.

* * *

"Sir," Jemma says, approaching the still shell-shocked man she has come to know as her boss, "I've done it! The 084 serum contained brain cellular regeneration properties, it's like Gh325, " she ignores the involuntary shudder, "but for the brain and with no side effects whatsoever!"

Coulson nods, still distracted.

"Is there a problem sir?" Jemma asks, looking from Coulson to Skye, who turns her back to escape the incriminating window on her computer.

"No, we'll touch down at the Playground in an hour, there are some ex-Shield scientists who should be able to help you administer the procedure to Fitz. Don't worry," He says, noticing Jemma's face, "they've all been cleared by the polygraph. Skye and I have some business we need to attend to first."

Jemma nods, too happy at the high possibility of saving her best friend (and possibly even more) to notice the worried looks on both Coulson and Skye. and walks away.

"Do you think May will be able to get us there on time?" Skye asks, worried that Billy might suffer the same fate as his brother.

"Right now, we're ahead of her, whoever we saw giving mental orders to Garrett, and we have to stay that way. Changing our route will only tip her off."

Skye attempts to smile. He still has his beloved Cellist waiting for him. He doesn't know she loves him so much, must never know. She's just the tech person after all. Skye, she has nobody waiting, if S.H.I.E.L.D never gets back up, she'll turn into a shadow once again.

* * *

Of course, Edgar Grant Douglas Ward isn't the only person who's ever fallen in love with Miss Nathan. Somewhere closer to the 150th. Audrey never thought she might fall in love either, after Phillip Coulson, she had decided most men are boring, so she looked out for an affair, not telling anyone she actually already had a boyfriend of course. Ward was the perfect choice, Smart, a spy, kind of like her in terms of (non-existent) humour, lying, and they could always swap information. She plays with the ring on her finger. I thought S.H.I.E.L.D liked happy endings, she thinks, though I don't know how I could think that considering they hid Phil's resurrection from me. Good thing he wasn't the one I really liked anyway. She didn't like his frequent absence when he joined Coulson's team, but it seemed perfect for her to get information to hide from Coulson. He mustn't find out what she knows about his death, because he'd want to start over again and there was no way Audrey Nathan was ever going to do that, especially after meeting Edgar Ward. She knows that if she's ever to have her happy ending, she must write the story.

* * *

Maria Hill had decided to take the day off from Stark Industries to find the new Director. She arrives, is identified, cleared by facial recognition by Billy Koenig. Shame he's stuck here in a secret base, playing Call of Duty all day long, never quite amounting to anything, he and his brother had been great agents in their day, but too trustworthy. Not a sin, but not something too good to have either.

She chooses to go to her room, specially provided for those rather frequent days when her help might be needed in some mission or another.

She's not as shocked as a civilian might be when she sees a forty-odd aged woman sitting on her bed. What shocks her is how quickly she's in a chokehold and helpless.

"Who are you?" She gasps, trying to find some way to get out of the hold.

"The Clairvoyant", she whispers into her ear, before binding her in a way even, she is sure, the Cavalry cannot get out off.

* * *

The Bus touches down precisely five minutes before the expected landing time. The door opens, and they don't exactly see what they expect.

They expect Agent Koenig, smiling, welcoming them back, rattling on about supplies.

What they see is a woman, smirking, with brown eyes and highlighted auburn hair, with a black gun cocked to the head of a very bound up Maria Hill.

"Audrey?"

"Miss Nathan?"

Coulson and his team ask at once.

"Oh cut it with the 'I'm so shocked' act. Give me back Agent Grant Ward, and we'll talk about the survival of Miss Hill."


	2. Chapter 2

Skye is sitting at her desk, trying to hack into the electronic systems of The Playground to unlock herself from her office. She doesn't know why The Clairvoyant is stupid enough to let her cling onto her computer, perhaps it's some type of hoax to find out more about her. Skye's careful, always has been, always had to be, living in a van in an alley, and employs a background program that will, to the common eye, make it seem like she's attempting to link onto a wi-fi hotspot, when she's really doing anything but.

Yes! she exclaims softly enough when her program unlocks a door. Unfortunately, it's not an escape route, rather, it's the door linking her office to Coulson's. Skye curses under her breath, moving slowly to the door frame.

She sees her AC, bowed down at his desk, looking at something, most likely a box, in his hand. Skye moves closer to the office, wanting to know more about the agent who never seems to reveal anything.

"I wanted to marry her, Skye. I wanted to marry the Clairvoyant," He says, barely a whisper but strangely loud enough for Skye to hear, his voice not quite broken, but at it's very brink.

Skye nods, moving slowly, not at all surprised he knew she was there. She crouches beside him, and sees in his hand is a velvet box, with a beautiful platinum ring, with a gem the cut of a heart.

"Listen, AC," Skye says softly, "you cannot choose to love. You fell in love with Audrey Nathan, a perfectly good choice, a beautiful woman, a compassionate friend, a lovely cellist. The only problem was that Audrey Nathan never really existed, she was just a facet of The Clairvoyant. Just like Grant Ward never existed, just a facet of The Clairvoyant's loyal servant."

Coulson nods, attempting to understand.

He's been scarred, once again, in the same, yet completely different way as Loki. Et tu Brute? Then fall Caesar. He has been betrayed, Skye thinks, and how much she wants to be worthy of the ring. Now The Cellist is gone, she has her chance. Her heart is filled with a sick sort of Joy.

Just what kind of person am I, Skye thinks, horrified at her thoughts, if I rejoice at the man I love's sorrow?

Just then, the doorknob turns, Coulson gestures towards Skye to move back behind the door, shutting, but not locking it behind her.

Skye pulls out a magic window, tapes it to the door after she shuts it. She wants, no she needs, to see the closure of AC's romance.

"Phillip," Audrey says, walking in. She's dressed in a simple black unitard, her hair pulled back in a bun. Her black heels click on the un-carpeted floor of the office.

"Audrey," Coulson says, his eyes filled with venom.

Audrey smiles, stands in front of his desk, showing the violence, the monstrous origin of her character.

"They don't call me Audrey, the people who know me," She says coldly, "I'm more known by Claire."

Coulson nods, what else can he do?

"Phillip Coulson, how should I kill you? I've wanted to spear you to death since that dreadfully boring first dinner at the Richmond," she drawls, in a voice that would be seductive if not for the words uttered, "But I won't kill you, yet, at least. I need, should I say, information."

Of course, here comes the threat, Coulson thinks. Skye watches, horrified. She cannot fight The Clairvoyant. Sure she's been trained, but by Grant Ward, the Clairvoyant's spy, she'll know all her weak points all her strengths. It is a battle that will not be won, what is the use in fighting it?

"How is Maria?" Coulson asks, attempting to gather a weak point, a vulnerability to attack.

"In a supply closet, you however, will not be as lucky," Claire says, "Tell me, I know for a fact that my lock-down was disturbed by a source from The Playground. I need to know who."

"I don't know what you're talking about," He replies, as cooly as possible.

A steel blade is produced.

"Lying bastard, I ask you again, who hacked my system?"

"No-one in The Playground has such skills, Claire."

It is pain like nothing he had ever felt before, a thousand needles and daggers stabbing through him when the steel blade makes contact. Worse even than Tahiti.

Skye stiffens behind the door. She can go now, without blowing her cover, since Claire knows about the hack, but she stays, she cannot let Claire know that someone lies witness to the events.

"Who hacked my system, Phillip?" Claire asks once again.

"I don't know," He gasps, slumped against the floor, the shock having pushed him out the chair. The pain comes once again, leaving him breathless and against the wall, staggering for breath.

"Damn it Phillip! For once in you pathetic life, why don't you tell me the truth!" Claire shouts, slowly but surely losing her cool.

She jabs the steel blade into his shoulder this time, drawing, and the it hurts (if even possible) more this time. He screams in agony, to the smirking face of The Clairvoyant. Phillip Coulson never screams, not when he witnessed his father's death, not when he was kidnapped and tortured, not when he was stabbed in the heart.

Hearing this heart-wrenching sound, Skye moves quickly to the drawer near her, and puts on the long de-activatated bracelet. She hears the pounding of walls, the frantic movements, obviously the rest of the team, locked in they're nearby bunks attempting to escape to save the man that they had come to love as their leader.

Skye charges in, shouting, "That's enough!"

Claire turns around, still smirking.

"No, please, no, Skye, I'll be alright, you can't do this Skye, run, please, I can handle this hfsdjkhf kajshgkjhgfgsdh" Coulson screams, as if countering a nightmare, ending in gibberish.

"Aw, was I really that bad that little itsy bitsy Phillip had to have an affair?" Claire mocks, laughing at the words he sprouts.

"What have you done to him?" Skye asks, moving swiftly near The Clairvoyant room.

"The pain's affecting his brain. There's going to be long term damage if you don't act quickly. Who hacked into my system?"

"Skye! No, please, run," Coulson shouts again, muffled by the fresh shock of pain Claire adds by jutting her hand forward.

"My bracelet's on, and I'm the only one with such skills," Skye says the technical truth, tears almost pouring. I'm so selfish, she thinks, I'm watching the man I love in agony before my eyes, and I'm not doing anything about it, to save my own skin.

With rage, The Clairvoyant herself does not expect the next move, a straight-out, knocking-out punch from Skye. Skye runs to Coulson, still screaming gibberish, helpless to his aid.

Ward walks into the room, Skye braces herself into a fighting position, running to her laptop, ready to unlock the doors holding her team mates at a moment's notice. Ward, noticing this, grabs Claire in her arms, and runs. Skye, cursing herself for her delayed reaction, releases Jemma and May first, Jemma to help Coulson, May to hunt Ward down. Triplett is next, followed by Billy. She finally remembers to unlock Commander Hill, not that she'd be much help in her iced state.

Jemma runs into the room a half minute later, and sees her boss in the lap of her best friend, whispering, now, gibberish in his agony.

"Come back, AC, come back," Skye is whispering as well. Upon making eye contact, with her friend, Skye wrings her hands in helplessness.

"What do I do, Jemma?" she asks, her tone absolutely broken.

May comes in soon, followed by Triplett.

"We lost him," she comments, dejected, "What the hell happened to Coulson?" she asks, suddenly in a fighting position once more.

Jemma nods, "I need to know what happened before I can help him, Skye," she says softly.

"Claire," Skye says, then, noticing the confusement on her teammates' faces, "Audrey Nathan, or as we know her, The Clairvoyant,'s real name, shut Coulson in his office and me in mine. I had a computer, so I hacked into her lockdown, tried to escape, " Skye says, withholding tears "but I only succeeded in opening the door to Coulson's office from mine. He was kind-of broken down, regretful, with an engagement ring in his hands, said he had actually wanted to marry her. I tried to comfort him, then Claire unlocked the door, so AC, Coulson," seeing another look of puzzlement, "asked me to go back to my office, I viewed the whole thing with Fitzsimmons's magic window. She wanted to know who hacked into her lockdown. He kept telling her there was no-one good enough. She tortured him again and again with the metal knife, just by touching him with it, but AC bore it quietly, bravely. That was until she stabbed his shoulder with the knife. I ran in to his rescue. He was, still is, in so much agony, he couldn't complete a coherent thought," the tears ran on in her eyes, down her cheeks now, "and even when Claire asked me, he made me not confess."

Jemma moves immediately to Coulson.

"I really don't know how to cure this," she says, "it's like nothing we've ever seen, possibly even an alien artefact."

She yanks the knife out of Coulson's shoulder, he screams once more.

"I'll have to bring him for some tests, Fitz can be administered to by the other S.H.I.E.L.D doctors, it's routine procedure. If Agent Coulson doesn't get treatment soon, he will most likely suffer from Catatonia, not a particularly pleasant mental illness to be inflected as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Skye nods, as she watches Coulson still whimpering in pain, being moved to a medical pod nearby, while the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors performed the necessary procedures on Fitz. She changes quickly, moving to the med-pod with Simmons, determined to stay with the man who saved her life.

"Why did you want to know who over-rid your lockdown?" Edgar asks, flying the helicopter.

"There's only one person I know who could over-rid my system, but she's dead, so I suppose her other child might be able to do so as well," Claire says, casually

"And who might that be, the one that was able to over-ride your systems before she died?" Edgar asks, much more interested.

"Clarisse, wife of Jiye, a half-blood inhuman, and coincidently, my mother."


	3. Chapter 3

Simmons's POV

"Simmons!" a voice, full of roar emotions, anger, betrayal, perhaps with a tint of love, rings around the Playground. I shut my eyes, it's been too long since I have last heard that voice, claiming that he loves me, and there is nothing I want more than to run out and see him, comfort him, make him know that I feel the same way, but the pain in the eyes of the man before me, the whimpers, the threat of Catatonia or worse keeps me by his side.

I know how much Coulson means to Skye the minute she doesn't tell me to go tend to Fitz. Always so selfless, she must love Coulson a lot not to try to ask me to go accompany Fitz.

The screaming stops abruptly, and I find myself unable to focus on the withering body in front of me. May comes in, almost calmly, strutting in.

"The doctors had to sedate Fitz. The Clairvoyant will pay for what she did to Coulson!" May says, in rare moment of agitation.

I nod, slightly, none of the painkillers seem to have any effect on Coulson, but I'm not going to ruin the group's morale even further.

When May leaves, Skye shouts at me agitatedly, "How's AC?"

I shake my head, "I've tried every single painkiller known to S.H.I.E.L.D, nothing seems to be working," I reply, trying to keep my voice even.

"There's got to be a cure somewhere! Find it!" She screams at me, before breaking down, "I'm so sorry," she whispers, "I'm in love with AC," she says, confirming my suspicions, "but I never told him, because, I was kind of scared. I mean, he had his Cellist," I involuntarily shudder at this, "and I was actually happy when their romance ended. I was happy that the man I love's ex-lover is the Clairvoyant. And I lied to the Clairvoyant, when the truth would cure AC, just to save my own skin. What kind of monster am I?"

I nod quietly, attempting to console my best friend, but there is pain in the room, and it is my duty to find a way to cure it. I nudge towards Coulson slightly, and she offers a pained expression, as I walk towards the bed holding Coulson, jerking, his mind long since shut-off, motivated to coping with the brain. With concentration as I work on finding a cure for this possibly alien weapon's effects, I find myself able to ignore the pained cry of "Simmons!" an hour and a half later.

Fitz's POV

I thought she might just love me. Why then, wasn't she by my side when I awoke? I remember my panic, my hatred, my sense of betrayal when I didn't see the familiar face amongst the smiling scientists looking at me, so I shouted for her.

The next thing I knew, I blanked out.

I wake up again, the face is still not present.

"Simmons!" I shout, once more.

"Agent Fitz! You're awake!" a woman wearing white scrubs moves from her armchair towards me, easing me up when she saw my intent to sit.

"Who are you? And what have you done to Simmons?" I ask, frantically.

She smiles slightly, her hair is a chestnut brown, slightly lighter than Skye's, wavy and long but up in a ponytail. Her eyes are a deep brown, like Skye's, yet, with a completely different air. She's wearing a pair glasses, red, reading ones, not those that one uses for everyday life, looking about 25.

"Agent Evelyn Lily Ward, Level 3, and Agent Simmons is currently involved in a medical procedure."

I wince at her surname, "Sorry, one of our team was called Ward, and he was a betrayer if anything."

"Well, uhm," she says, awkwardly, "that might be because I'm..." she muffles off.

"Sorry?" I say, getting a bit worried.

"I just might be his younger sister," she says, finally.

"Get away from me!" I shout off the bed despite knowing I am in no condition to do so.

"Agent Fitz! Come back!" she shouts, running after me.

I turn to the nearest medical pod, where I see Simmons, tending to a cut in the shoulder of Coulson's.

"You've got to be f*cking kidding me!" I shout, in a rare moment of vulgarness, "You miss my revival for a cut in the shoulder!"

Simmons turns over, "Fitz! What are you doing here! You should go back to bed, immediately!"

"Yeah, yeah," I say sarcastically, "itsy bitsy Fitz gotta do what he's told! I am not leaving until I get answers!"

"Agent Fitz!" Skye shouts formally, getting up from her crouching position, "As a newly instated Level 10 Agent and the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, I order you to stand down!"

"Since when have you been the superior, Level 1 agent?" I ask mockingly.

"Since two days after you were put out of commission. I was instated as the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, with Level 8 access, the organisation's quickest promotion, with Level 10 access to be granted if Coulson was put out of duty for any reason whatsoever."

I am totally enraged. How dare the rookie use her authority against me.

Wait a minute, who is this speaking, certainly not Leo Fitz of Fitzsimmons. What's happening to me?

"He's out of duty for a cut to the shoulder!" I shout, not quite in control of my emotions.

"It's more than that!" Jemma and Skye shout at once.

"Yeah, right, defend him," I scoff, "don't need to tell him, he's got both of you wrapped around his little finger, dead in love with him. What kind of 'happenings' might have occurred. When he awakes from the awestrucking effects of a cut shoulder, tell him that his agent thinks him an almost-pedophiliac creep that is worse than Ward!"

Skye's POV

How dare he? A boiling rage is in me, as I hear him call AC, a man he once respected as a father an "almost-pedophiliac creep that is worse than Ward".

"Agent Fitz!" I say, as coldly as possible, "There was no sex involved, in case you need to know." I reach to my belt, pulling out an ICER and shooting him with it.

"Evelyn Lily Ward! I trust you, but keep Agent Fitz under control!" I shout at the panting woman running down the hall. She nods, fifteen minutes later, with the help of a few other scientists.

Commander Hill comes down to the med-pod at this point, awaking from the effects of being Iced by the Clairvoyant.

"How's Coulson?" she asks, as if reading from a card.

"Deteriorating rapidly, and I can't help him," Jemma says, extremely worried.

"Here, try this," the other woman replies, offering a syringe.

Jemma immediately injects it into Coulson. All at once, the whimpering stops, and the man seems relaxed. Smiling, Jemma requests for AC to be brought to his office, while I wait in my adjacent one.

When he wakes up, he sees me at the age of his bed.

"Skye, I need to tell you something, I love you," he says, upon sitting up.

I pretend to be calm, but I've never heard such beautiful words in my life.

Before I know it, his lips crash on mine, and it's difficult to pretend to resist. But he moves on, attempting to unbutton my shirt even though we're in a very vulnerable position to be found out by the other team members, and I didn't want things to progress this fast.

"AC! Coulson! Phil!" I shout, but he doesn't seem to hear me.

Eventually, I decided to play the wild card before he can get too far, already moving to my belt.

"Help!" is the word I hear escape my lips.


	4. Chapter 4

Skye's POV

What on earth is Coulson doing?

I struggle against his grasp, but he holds me surprisingly firmly for a man that has just spent 5 hours in an extreme pain and another 4 in comatose.

Agent Hill is gone, left shortly after Coulson fell asleep, along with Agent Koenig, to the Hub to get ammunition.

Triplett's also gone, he's flying them there.

Fitz is awake, still angry at Jemma. It has been decided that it would yield medically unfavourable results if he was put on sedation for so long. And he's angry at Coulson.

I'm angry at Coulson.

Ten seconds after the word leave my lips, the team still at the Playground comes to my aid (the door wasn't locked, fortunately).

Simmons's jaw drops.

May shouts out, "Phil, stop it!"

Fitz throws a punch at Coulson.

"Bastard!" he shouts, swerving in to attack Coulson off me, in an adrenaline spike.

May has Jemma pull Fitz away, backing Coulson into a corner.

"You okay?" Jemma asks immediately.

"A little shaken, but he didn't get beyond the buckle of the belt," I reply, noticing her struggle with Fitz.

"What the Hell Coulson?" May begins, agitatedly.

He shakes his head, seemingly unable to speak, and he's kicked in the gut again, spewing a bit of blood.

5 minutes ago, I would have come to his aid.

5 minutes ago, I would have died for him.

5 minutes ago, I loved him.

But now, I look with disgust at the man before my eyes, the man who just attempted to rape me, and it's not love, it's hatred.

Triplett's POV

The Bus is parked neatly in the air field, with Koenig deciding to stay at the Hub for a while. An work-related issue meant Hill had to return to Stark, not that I minded, I preferred the Playground when it was under the charge of Agent Coulson or Skye.

I expect a happy scene around Fitz and Coulson, everybody smiling like it's the (happy) end of the world.

I don't expect a bloodied Coulson at the foot of an angry Cavalry, the whole team looking at him with disgust, and Fitz ready to murder.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

Jemma attempts to explain the situation without getting worked up but it's an impossibility.

"Son of a b*tch!" I shout after hearing the last portion of the story, "the floor of his office is too comfortable for him, the bus is here, might as well move him to the Cage."

May nods, and we lift him up, too weak to struggle from the floor, avoiding Fitz in case he had a sharp object in his hand.

We throw him onto the bare floor of the Cage, none too gently. I have never seen such pain and remorse in the eyes of a man, but this being Coulson, ex-Level-8, now-Level-10 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he might as well be faking it.

"Why'd you do it?" I ask, trying to keep my cool.

"Please," he whimpers, "my head is killing me, please, I'll answer any of your questions, just give me a moment to re-"

He gets kicked once more before he has the chance to finish his statement.

"oh, you'll answer now," she says gruffly.

Coulson remains silent.

AC's POV

What did I just do?

I'm in love with Skye, I know it, have known it since, forever, actually. Where on earth did these feelings of love translate to wanting to have sex with her?

My heads hurting like nothing. Triplett and May hate me.

I don't hate them back, I hate myself more. I'm never going to see the love of my life again.

On top of the fact that I just ruined it. Her life.

Skye walks in an eyes me coldly. The look in her eyes shatter my heart.

Since when has falling in love ever ended up good for me?

"He talking yet?" she asks in a cold-to-hide-the-hurt voice.

"I'm sorry, Skye," I whisper, but it's more like a whimper really, they don't know how much this burns me from inside.

"Save it, Coulson, she says in a cold voice with tangible venom, "I would resign, but S.H.I.E.L.D. really needs a Deputy Director, considering how f*cked up out current Director is."

I nod, I will remain silent, and they will keep on punishing me, more than I could ever punish myself. Maybe I could, in some ways, atone for my sin.

"Why'd you do it, Phillip?" Skye asks again, knowing how much I hate my first name after hearing it at the lips of Claire.

"I...I don't know," I finally let out, "I've been wanting to do that for a while, tell you I love you, not have sex with you. I just said it, it was the first thing that came to my head, and then, I just did it."

May, obviously doesn't believe me, and continues kicking me while Skye watches, looking somewhat satisfied.

It's going to be long day.

But I'll survive it because what I've done, or attempted to do, is totally unforgivable.

Simmons's POV

"You were right Fitz," I sigh, "Coulson is an almost-pedophiliac creep that is worse than Ward after all."

He nods, moving around the lab.

"Well, this is one time I'm not happy to be right," He says coldly, "I wish May let me into the Cage, though Coulson", he winces in disgust, "would be dead in ten seconds flat."

"I'm sorry for not being there at your revival. He," I know Fitz knows who I'm talking about at his wrinkling of his nose, "was stabbed in the shoulder with a possibly Alien Artefact by the Clairvoyant."

"I thought the Clairvoyant was dead, he killed him."

"Yeah, but, apparently, it wasn't Garrett, Garrett was actually innocent, mind-controlled by some technology of Claire, or Audrey Nathan."

"Miss Nathan is the Clairvoyant?" His eyes widen in horror.

I nod, "Unfortunately."

"If she was his girlfriend, who knew how much he could have known about her? He might be her spy, have a drug fake pain so we would think he was innocent."

For a crazy-sounding hypothesis, it sure sounded credible.

"What does that mean?" I ask, somewhat horrified.

"We'll need to find a real truth serum," he says, already moving onto building a vial to hold such a potent drug.


	5. Chapter 5

Ward's POV

"I want to kill Coulson," I say, visualising the moment I get to snap his fingers slowly, beat him up till he can still feel pain but is too weak to fight back, torture him, for what he did to Skye.

Skye was weak, whiny, irritating, I suppose, but she was much more decent than the rest of the team. Kind of like Evelyn, she was a sweet good younger sister, good as any despite The Well incident, and I loved her.

Claire smiles at me.

"You do know the stab I gave him had something to do with that right? Phillip did that because the pain administered maximised his reactions, feelings and thoughts for the first five minutes after waking up," She smirks, moving out of the cockpit of the Helicopter to get herself a drink.

I smile back, "He really deserved what he got, don't you think?"

Claire nods, "He was in love with her, you know. I knew it the moment I saw him look at her. The aftermath of that five minute incident burns him, more than anything the steel blade could do on it's own."

"I'm curious though, where did Hill get the working antidote?"

"I passed it to her, slipped it into her pocket after I Iced her. The pain itself was inconsequential, but I guessed the person he cared for most would wait by his side, and that his actions would then cause a rift in the team. A long shot, but it has apparently worked."

I nod, " Remind me never to piss you off."

She smiles, leaning in for a kiss.

"Despite what happened with Phillip, I still love you know."

I smile back. One day, Coulson will hunt us down, and I will kill him.

Say it was my duty to the nation, getting rid of such an elusive criminal.

And perhaps Skye will admire me once more.

May's POV

I kick him in the gut. Coulson still doesn't speak the truth.

I punch him in the face. He doesn't speak.

I slap throw him across the room. He doesn't speak.

I threaten to fly the plane into the sky and open the top of the cage. He doesn't speak.

I have Skye talk to him. He whimpers, but he still doesn't speak the truth.

I never thought he had it in him, attempting to rape an unarmed girl, and god-knows-what to us, maybe even a Hydra spy.

I mean, Director Fury trusted him, and we all know how difficult it is to earn his trust.

"What else have you been hiding from us?" I ask, saying the plane threat once more.

"Nothing, I swear!" he cries, looking thoroughly broken. But I've seen Ward pretend-break before, and he did it pretty convincingly.

"25 years, Coulson! How many secrets? I can't believe I trusted you for 25 years."

"Please Melinda, you've got to believe me, I've told you everything I know," he says quietly. I think he's been through Trip, Skye and me for about three and a half hours.

I spit at him in disgust. "Unfortunately, I'll have to change my name now. It sounds wrong now that I know it's been through your tongue for so long."

He doesn't fight back, doesn't defend himself. Weird, I think, I know Coulson, and he doesn't go down without a fight.

Or at least I thought I knew him.

Trip comes in at this point.

"Fitzsimmons would like a moment with him."

"Let Simmons in, but not Fitz, this man's corpse is not worth our time."

Trip nods, but comes back in later, "Fitz demands to see him, wants to look him in the eye. Can't believe this was the kid that thought Ward wasn't evil just 6 weeks ago.

"Fine, but check to make sure Fitz isn't carrying any sharp objects, and send Skye in as well, we need a field agent in here to make sure things don't get too crazy."

Trip agrees, coming back in five minutes later, "The boy is clear, whiskey?" he asks.

I nod, "It's been a long day, we seriously need fewer male traitors in out team."

We leave Coulson on the ground, bleeding, knowing he's hurting like mad from the past hours, but not caring at all.

Simmons's POV

I walk in quietly in-between an angry Fitz and an angry Skye.

I gasp when I see Coulson. He's a bloody mess, so different from the slightly haggard man talking to me on The Bus just under 24 hours ago. He has since sprouted two black eyes, bruises all over his body, blood sprayed all over his tie, coat and shirt, his legs twisted into a weird position and his ankles are swollen. His breathing is highly ragged, and, from what I gather, his nose and mouth have been saved simply to make his answering questions easier.

It takes all my self-control to suppress the medical instincts to provide help to the man before me who obviously needs it I sit cross legged, like Skye, at the wall furthest away from Coulson. My heart aches for him, but then again, I know that it is just the inability to change to the fact that the man I once called "sir" is not the true image of Phillip Coulson.

"Fitzsimmons," he says, whispering, choking a little as he pronounces the next word, "Sk-skye."

"Cut it," Skye offers calmly, too calmly in fact. She loved him, loved him so much, wanted to protect him with her life, and he destroys her heart so completely and thoroughly that it is impossible to go on, that one cannot even hope for closure, because no matter what reason he gives, there will always be the doubt that there is another one. He destroyed her heart, her soul, her life, and so she must pretend that it never existed, this heart, this soul, this life never happened, the only way that it is possible to live at all.

"I love you, you know," is what he says next, to my surprise.

"You love me! You do not attempt to rape the woman you love! You do not betray the woman you love! And you most certainly do not hold out for a corrupt organisation against the woman you love!" she shouts at him, keeping tears that still keep falling.

"Please Skye, kill me," he whispers, "show a little merc-"

"Coward! So you're trying to turn her into a murderer now, aren't you? Servant of Hydra," Fitz cuts in, a wild look in his eyes I have never seen before. Before I know it, he injects, none too gently, the serum into Coulson's swollen ankle.

"Ouch!" he shouts, almost like when he was stabbed by the steel blade.

"Lie to me," Fitz says, pulling a pack of cards from his pocket.

"What is this?" Fitz asks, as calmly as possible, testing the effectiveness of the truth serum.

"An appl- a pack of cards," Coulson replies, as if his tongue is moving of his own accord.

"Why'd you do what you did?"

"I really know, I just did whatever my brain told me to. I really love you Skye. I wanted you to know love you, so I reacted instinctively. It's almost as if I didn't hear you shout for me to stop," Coulson explains. He's a beaten down man by now, and I like to think he might not be born evil after all, but rather, made so by his unconscious."

"You should take him to Cyops, run tests to see what happened. There are polygraph-cleared S.H.I.E.L.D scientists there," I suggest, more cooly than the others in the Cage.

Fitz nods, but not before kicking him repeatedly until he finally blacks out.

"He deserved that," he whispers, before opening the door to the Cage to call Trip and May.

They arrive, slightly under influence but not too bad.

"Not too shabby," Skye says, lifting her eyes off her suddenly interesting thumbnail, "but you do know we have a polygraph right?"

"The polygraph can only deem if someone is telling a lie, and not actually make someone tell the truth," Fitz replies quickly enough.

"I would like to be on the plane, see him locked up in his Cyops holding cell where Marcus Daniels, Mike Peterson, Ian Quinn had spent some time to test their possibly superhuman qualities," Skye says.

May and Trip nod, knowing how much this means to her.

Fitz and I decide to stay at the lab to train the Scientists, and 'deal with' Evelyn Lily Ward.

May agrees to this too, saying Commander Hill will drop by in a couple hours.

I walk to the lab, but there is something missing. An all-ruling respected leader I was used to doing lab-work for.

Skye's POV

When he wakes up, I'm sitting at his cell, because I like to see the mess Trip, May and Fitz have made him.

"Skye, I..."

"Save it, Coulson. I'm not listening." To prove my point, I fish out my phone and earphones and start listening to some heavy metal music.

He looks defeated, heartbroken. Well, tell you what mister, a little heartbreak might do you good, since I've been heartbroken twice already, remember? All because of that b*tch Claire. I'm gonna hunt you down, Claire, and I'll show you what a physical heartbreak is like.

We drop him off at Cyops, I happily turn the key to his misery, he's know S.H.I.E.L.D. inmate 0-9-4

"Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Trip jokingly salutes, when I turn the key, but after the last director, I'm not sure I want to fill those shoes, they're way too small to be comfortable.

24hrs later

I stare with disbelief at the message at my computer.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. inmate 0-9-4 broke out at 0900 hours, injuring 9, whereabouts unknown."


	6. Chapter 6

AC's POV

I shouldn't have broken out. Shouldn't have done it, because I would cause trouble to our new director, and the last thing I want is to let her start off on a wrong foot. She might hate me, and be deluded into thinking I'm a psychopath, but that doesn't make me not love her. Which makes me decidedly a psychopath.

But when the guards hissed and pushed me into the cell, followed by a guard crouching beside me, whispering into my ear, "The Clairvoyant gives her thanks. The hacker shall be hers."

I now know it was just a ploy to get me out running, avoiding my team, make them distracted, so they're vulnerable to attack. Stupid, really, of me to fall into their trap. It was almost too easy, grab a bunch of ICERS, shoot my way out, everyone there came from the Science Academy, and had very little physical training (only ten percent or so were cleared for field work, and even then, they barely passed). I was in and out in two hours.

I wonder how I'm supposed to find Ward. Like Skye, I was tagged with a steel bracelet which tracked my every internet move (disengage bracelet didn't work),which meant they could also track my location. I was shackled to the team like a good little dog that just so happened to break out of the dog house, but tied to the fence post of the backyard. I'm never going to manage to escape America, Ward will slip through my fingers like water, but I know, all I want to do is escape the eyes of Skye. I'm a coward, and I know it, but as long as I can escape her expression, I'll be fine.

I check-in to a skeevy motel in a countryside, I had hijacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle and escaped with it. I don't know how far I've driven, don't care anymore. I pick a king size bedroom, pay with cash. I drop on the bed, not bothering to change.

How the mighty fall. Just three days ago, I was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., I loved Skye, I like to think she loved me, with a nice, comfortable office in the Playground. Now, I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. fugitive, Skye definitely hates me, and I'm in a motel room. The floor of The Playground was more comfortable than the bed.

I shut my eyes, but I'm not foolish enough to chase sleep; it'll never come.

Skye's POV

"What do you mean you lost him! Agent Frederica Houston! I know you have a rather romantic history with Coulson! I promise you, if you've had any part of this, you and Agent Evelyn Ward can consider yourselves out of S.H.I.E.L.D., find him!" I shout into the phone, after receiving news that Coulson has escaped.

"You okay?" May's at the doorway.

"Melinda," I say, ever since I took the chair as Director, the entire organisation has been on first-name terms unless a superior is reprimanding a subordinate, or referring to a S.H.I.E.L.D. fugitive (i.e. Coulson) "I'm not Coulson. I don't need a Mama-bear watching over my shoulder."

May, sorry, Melinda (I'm still not used to calling her first name in my head), nods, "Good to know, at least I don't need to pry you away from reading your Death and Recovery Report, there's no 0-8-4 to distract you."

Despite the rather insulting reference, I laugh rather loudly, "But we need to track Coulson down, immediately, before he starts going on a massacre killing every known S.H.I.E.L.D. agent round."

"You don't hold a grudge, do you?" Melinda says sarcastically, "But what makes you think Coulson is so dangerous?"

I stand up, looking at Melinda straight in the eye, "Melinda Qiaolian May, are you telling me you've never once doubted Fitzsimmons's (the nickname still stuck) truth serum had some sort of biochemical flaw such that Coulson was, in fact, telling a lie? He's now a 4-8-0, object of unknown future. He was able to hide his wants for so long, deceiving the whole team, and then, just because of some fired out weapon, he starts attempting to rape people! He's worse than Ward, cleverer, sharper, because you knew him longer than you knew Ward, and you still couldn't find him out. He's dangerous and mentally unstable. I will not rest until he's behind bars once again to be cleared for American Citizenship; I'm not even considering him for a part of the New S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore."

Melinda looks at me, I, being the Director, am the only one who can get away with saying her full name and not getting a punch in the face.

"So, what's the mission?"

"Run back-up on Agents Houston and Ward, I trust them, for some weird reason, I trust them, but I need to make sure my trust is deserved."

Melinda nods, just then, the security alarms ring, telling me someone is within range of the gun outside.

"Identify yourself," the voice recording says.

"Agent Cassandra Coulson, of S.H.I.E.L.D., Level 5."

Strangely, the door lets her in without the polygraph. I immediately see the results of a polygraph test on my desktop-she had been certified as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at the Hub.

Within minutes, she comes barging at my door, with, "My name's Agent Cassandra Coulson, and I would like to know what the hell you've done to my brother, Phillip Hagen Coulson."

Ward's POV

"How's Coulson?" I ask, when Claire enters the cockpit.

"Gone," she says, a tinge of pleasure to her voice.

"What do you mean, gone?" I ask, how can this man, the man both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are hunting down slip past the radar so easily?

"Oh, it's part of the plan. Divide him from the team, make him hunt us down, and then, off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar under it's incompetent director, Hydra can swoop him and take him off the playing field once and for all."

"Not a bad plan, Claire. When are we stopping by a church to get married?" I ask, almost desperately, I've wanted to make this woman my wife for too long.

"Soon, dearest, as soon as we land, I'll pick up my dress and we get married, no one will ever find us out, the new director is not sharp enough to try."

I kiss her, steady at the controls, willing myself to fly faster.

"Any other plans?" I ask.

"I would like to dial up a couple of my old friends, of course, Jiye died a few years ago in battle, very tragic, but my mother is still alive, and I believe the separated Mr. and Mrs. Ian Quinn would be very helpful to help in my little...exploit.

Skye's POV

"Wait a minute, you're Coulson's sister?" I ask, totally bewildered.

"Yes, why? You've a problem that your boss has a sister?" she says, rather rudely.

"First off, yes, I'm surprised, but I certainly do not have a problem with him having a sister. And secondly, he's not my boss, I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You've got to be kidding me? You're Skye right! Oh my gosh, my brother says so much about you. Sorry for being a bit rude then, I'm a specialist, I don't work well with people."

I wince, remembering when I last heard those words. I'm having trouble thinking Cassandra as Coulson's sister. Yes, she has those trade-mark blue eyes, but her hair is completely black and layered, she's slim, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a tank. She looks about Jemma's age, if I didn't know better, I would have thought her Fitz's sister.

"Yeah, it's me. As for your brother..." I begin my (very long) story.

After hearing it, Cassandra looks totally shocked.

"I should have known my brother would get into some weird ass shit like this, but he's not a bad guy. I really shouldn't have bought airplane tickets for him to Portland, should I?"

"You what?" I ask, shocked.

"He called me up, said he needed a favor... I should have known. But I swear, I didn't know he was a fugitive," she says, putting her hands up in surrender.

"Why would he go there?" Melinda asks, more to herself than to others.

"The Cellist lived there," I said, and, checking a location software I created, "It's where Claire and Ward are reported to be going there. We've got to leave immediately, I'll activate the tracker on Coulson's bracelet."

Cassandra moves towards the door, to our bus.

"Look, you don't need to come along," I say, trying to ease her out of the operation.

"I have to, I'm Coulson's younger sister, I was born ready to fix things when he screws up, which, granted, is very rare."

I nod, before Melinda looks at the location software I've created, tracking both Evelyn and Frederica.

"We've got a problem, they seem to have gone off the radar," she says, "Along with Claire, Ward, and," she pauses ever so slightly "Ian have renounced Hydra".

Narrator

"Off course," the man in the suit says, smiling, "I've gone off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar too, I suppose Hydra will be hunting us as weak links now?"

"Perhaps," says of those on the line, "But I've got connections, remember?"

"Yes," the other one says, oh, how he loves her voice, not for nothing he, quite some time ago, became committed to hearing it, before everything went crashing down on him, "We'll simply have to stick to the plan."


	7. Chapter 7

Skye's POV

We're in The Bus, on the way to Portland, Oregon. With luck, we might be able to capture Coulson and find out what he knows. With even more luck and information from Coulson, we might just be able to apprehend the Clairvoyant and Ward in time. Of course, this is a very unlikely situation.

"He's going to be fine, you know," Cassandra says, settling beside me in the SUV where I'm loading a scan.

"Why would I care whether he's okay or not? All I need him to be is alive, and, even then, for just long enough to answer questions," I reply snappishly.

"So you don't care for him? He cares quite a lot for you, you know. Would never stop talking about you when he called," she says, pulling out a chocolate bar, "want one?"

The action reminds me too much of something that happened beside a motel pool just a few weeks ago.

"Agent Coulson, that's way out of order. I warn you, unlike your brother, I'm extremely rash and will not hesitate to throw you out of this plane without a parachute," I say sharply, disguising pain as anger replaces weaknesses with power. I'm turning into Ward, I realise, well, I can be him in a good way, he wasn't that bad an agent. I guess betrayal really changes people.

She stares at me, "Are you sure you're the one my brother fell in love with? He always joked that he had three women on the plane, the heartless warrior, Alberta Einstein and the beautiful, perfect goddess. Are you sure you are the goddess and not the warrior?"

I ponder this, definitely sounds like Coulson to joke like this, but, at the same time, I prefer to think that I'm not heartless.

Then, I realise. Cassandra is my Skye as I was to Coulson. She's offering to be my friend, the person who challenges and improves authority, even Jemma cowers at the sight of me now, and Melinda looks at me as if I'm someone to keep in line, just like Coulson. Of course, there's not way I could fall in love with her, but that doesn't mean I can't love her as a sister.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's just that I trusted him, and then, one fine day, he decides to attempt to rape me. This, if anything, is not easy to forgive, and I just want to see him burn," I say, trying to be as human as possible.

Cassandra smiles at this.

"I totally understand, but, remember, you're the girl who wouldn't let Mike Peterson kill a known Hydra agent who threatened to rape you. You, if anybody, can learn to forgive my brother, who, by the way, really loves you more than anything. He would do anything to protect you, even if it meant his own torture, to the point which he can't remember any reason the remain alive."

I ponder these words. Cassandra cannot know, no-one can know that, up to a point about 48 hours ago, I felt the same way. Perhaps that's why I want to see him burn so badly, being betrayed by someone you truly love hurts more than any physical torture available.

"Yes, I suppose so," is what say instead, to the smiling Cassandra.

She nods, "I'll leave you to your own devices for now, then," she says, punning on the fact my computer is on my lap, my tablet on the floor and my phone attached, with a cute phone holder Leo designed, to my ear.

I smile back, now, Coulson, where the hell are you?

AC's POV

I hang up from my phone call to Frederica, an ex-girlfriend of mine and Evelyn. Packing my bags to leave the skeevy motel, the door is suddenly barged open, a gun pointing to my face.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I ask, hopefully.

"No, Phillip, the name's Claire, and I would like to have a word with you," the woman I knew so long as Audrey Nathan comes in front of me.

"Why would I want to have one with you?" I say, sounding extremely childish in my desperation.

"Because my friend is here. Phillip, Lorelei, Lorelei, Phillip," she says, gesturing towards an immensely pretty woman whom I know as the master of all men's souls.

"She-she's in and Asgardian prison, how can she be here?" I ask, immediately with my guard up, though I know it will be fruitless, no male has ever withstood her charm.

"Broke her out," Claire says, grinning.

"Good Morning, Phillip," she slurs my name seductively, "perhaps you'll be more willing to talk now?"

"I'm sorry, this might work on Ward, but it's certainly not working on me-" I say, just when she touches my shoulder.

"You will obey my orders," she says, and suddenly, my mind is filled with want for her, Lorelei, as if I could live no life without her, just like I felt for Skye. What kind of silly romance was that? Mine with Skye, she didn't even like me, for god's sake!

"Maybe there's something we can use, here?" she says, grinning, stroking my cock, which turns hard almost immediately.

She throws me onto the bed.

I'm done for, I think, as I groan softly, not at all noticing the camera Claire is holding.

Cassandra's POV

I'm in the SUV with Skye, she asked me to stay, when the live streaming comes in. I watch the live streaming clip with her.

I'm filled with horror and disgust as I watch my brother being raped by the infamous sorceress, the same brother I always held in respect as a man of great self-control and resistance to adversity. I watch him being asked questions, and, when he holds out, to my surprise, Lorelei pulls out a steel blade similar to the one that had tortured him just days before, and hurts him so badly he screams for them to simply kill him. He knows he's being raped, he knows of the humongous pain inside him.

"Where's the hacker?" Claire asks again, venomously.

"I...don't...know!" my brother gasps in-between the tormenting pain and the knowledge he's betraying his own love, he knows he'll break any moment.

"Liar, she's not at the Playground, so she must be in the air, received some sort of tip off, from you perhaps?"

Then, I find out, my brother isn't in Portland, he's in Connecticut, where the Playground is located. He planted the tickets as a decoy, he knew where the Clairvoyant was going and was trying to keep Skye safe. After all that has happened, he still loves her very, very deeply.

"So, Lorelei, if you will," Lorelei obliges, to my absolute disgust.

"Skye...Skye...Skye!" My brother shouts, still in his blinding pain, both emotional and physical even though this would ordinary be a point of pleasure "let me die, let me die, please, let me die!"

"Listen to that, Skye, whoever you are," Claire smirks, talking to the camera, "Lover boy is calling for you. His pain won't cease until we have the hacker. If you really do love him, which I highly doubt since he has a habit of falling in love with people that don't quite reciprocate the favour, come and hand him or her to us. Remember, I could do this for as long as I please, until I get tired of listening to his voice screaming for release, and decide to kill him, so don't leave me waiting for long. And, oh yeah, it was me who passed Hill the drug, so I laced it with a tiny, but extremely powerful, amount of aphrodisiac, which was just enough to, I don't know, attempt to rape someone without knowing what he was doing."

Skye tears up, and I knew it from the moment I saw her, no matter how much she says she hates him, it's only because, before The Incident, she had loved him.

"It was Claire all along, AC never betrayed me, it was just Claire doing the talking," she realises, "and now he's somewhere, being tortured badly, all because I didn't love him enough to trust him."

"Skye, if I know my brother, he'll not hold it against you, hell, he must have been extremely mad at himself as well for doing what he did. But it's sign, a sign this is the greatest love story of them all, because you loved each other despite what the other has done to you, and you know it too well."

"It must be difficult to see your brother like this, and be a friend to the person whose fault it is," she says, sighing.

"Don't you think that for a second, Phil knows what he was getting himself into, he did that, Skye, out of love for you. The only thing you can do is love him back."

She nods carefully, still thinking about someone.

"Do you think they'll have broken him by the time we reach there? Made him so hurt so hopeless, that he'll have no-where to run, no dreams to chase, just a living, breathing zombie?' Skye asks, desperately.

"Not if you're still around," I say, and I know it to be true the minute she smiles.

No wonder my brother fell in love with her, I think.

And no-wonder Hydra is willing to do whatever it takes to take her out of the game. They'll do anything to break Hydra's worse enemy, Phillip Hagen Coulson.


	8. Chapter 8

Skye's POV

Claire is ruthless, she video-chats again, showing AC's torture just minutes after she streamed the round for me.

"Hello, Miss Skye. I forgot to mention, Phillip's been taking an unfortunate reaction to Lorelei. She says it usually doesn't happen, but his body seems to be fighting against her, regret and pain, she says, and true love, very rare, but it's giving him such pain, you know?"

She moves the camera to AC, who is naked from hip-down on the stiff bed, Lorelei thrusting herself onto him. He screaming, howling in pain. I look at the location I've pinpointed, no other building for a hundred miles or so, no-one to hear him scream.

"Each time she does that, his insides burn like acid. He loves you, and love, other than desire, seems to be hurting him more than anything. I, personally, enjoy it, it's very entertaining, but I suppose you don't? Like I said before, I want the hacker, and, oh, yes, Phillip wants to talk to you, he's on," she says, as if she'd forgotten her keys in the car, moving the camcorder next to him.

I see the pain in his eyes, his complete and utter want to give in, and yet, he holds on, for what? The fragments of S.H.I.E.L.D. that no longer hold any importance? No, I'm selfish enough to believe he holds on because he loves me.

A person who truly loves you is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes the smile on your face-unknown, an accurate quote, if anything at all.

"Skye..." his voice is soft when he speaks, a show of weakness, a whimper, but something weaker, yet stronger than what I heard at the foot of The Cavalry, "please...I'll be fine, don't...don't bring the...the...hacker."

"Sick b*tch!" Cassandra curses as she sees her brother.

"Cassandra...you there? Take...care of Skye, for me...won't you? Don't...don't have...her bring over the hacker. Ah!" He screams in agony once more as Lorelei quickens in her thrusts.

"Oh my god, AC, hang on, will you, stay strong!" I shout, easy for me to say, I'm not being raped by a pathetic seductress with the ever-looming threat of an Alien Artefact torturing me.

"I'll. Be. Fine" he manages to get out, before being zapped once again by the Alien blade.

"A little too mushy for my taste. You have four hours, before this man leaves this life, time starts now."

"Melinda!" I shout, "Fire up The Bus, we're leaving for Connecticut!"

AC's POV

"Please Claire, have mercy, let me die," I beg, the pain is every where, burning my body, burning my soul, but I'm unwilling to reveal the identity of 'the hacker', I could never stoop so low as to torture Skye to get out of this. Everything I survive here, in this crazed-up hell, is all for Skye, I think. But I can hardly remember how she looks like, her voice, her touch, almost as if I'm suffering through all this for a ghost.

"And ruin the fun? I don't quite think so. Phillip, meet my fiancee Edgar," my ex-girlfriend laughs, as Ward enters.

"Ward," My face falls at the sight of the man.

"What to do with you, Coulson? You always were a tough nut to break. How do I got about doing that?" he drawls evilly, beginning with breaking my fingers, slowly, torturously, "I'm lucky my fiancee said I could have you before the wedding, wouldn't want to ruin my suit."

The pain shoots through my fingers, hurting like crazy, but it's not like I've not been hurt as badly before.

"It'll take a bit more to break me," I say, feigning bravery.

"Thank you Edgar, you're excused until it's time we turn him into a body. Lorelei, if you will," Claire grins.

Lorelei takes me on, the familiar acidic burn both in the pit of my stomach and my heart, for cheating on Skye like this, though it's not like I had a choice, while Claire shocks me with the steel blade.

"Oh yes, come for me, Phillip," Lorelei slurs, "let me watch you as my powers enslave you, combined with Claire, break you, until you become little more than the broken shell of a man you once were, if you could ever consider yourself a man."

There is little I can do, except scream for a girl I know cannot hear me, for an escape which I know will not come, and a memory of love, which I know I cannot recall.

Skye's POV

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, we're at a shack. It's more of a warehouse, but any place they keep people to torture is a shack in my words.

"Please, have mercy, let me die!" I hear the voice wrecking through the atmosphere of the seemingly harmless warehouse. I watch as Cassandra and Melinda tighten their grip on their guns. Trip is hiding somewhere, waiting to provide an extraction.

"Just remember, Skye, that whatever happens in there, you've tried your best,"I hear Jemma say into my ear-piece.

"Agent Simmons, you and I are going to have a very serious talk about what you tell an agent just before their mission! Over and out!" I say haughtily, regretting it, since I know she's just trying to comfort me, but there can be no comfort in such a situation.

"Skye, do you need me to engage D.W.A.R.F.s?" Leo asks into my ear. Ever since 'The Incident', he's been sort of detached, almost like a miniature Ward. I decide, after AC and sorting everything out between us, he'll be my next 'humanising' project.

"No, we've got audio, too much of it," I say, gritting my teeth.

"Okay, Lorelei, wrap up, will you? I'd like a little...one-on-one time with Phillip," a voice I recognise as Claire's voice hisses venomously. I hear the sound of zipping, buttoning, "Oh, you don't need to help him," the voice comes again.

Revolted, our team sneaks through an open back door.

"Argh where is it?" I hear the irritated voice of the seductress, apparently, she's looking for her sky-blue top, which is, to my surprise, in Melinda's hands.

"Put your top on," I hear Melinda say, with the same iciness as the last time she uttered those words, though I'm happy she didn't utter them to me this time.

"Ah, the warrior with the heart of ice. Nice to see you again," Lorelei smiles, grabbing her top from Melinda without shame.

"Aw, Phillip, why didn't you tell me we're have company? I could have specially prepared you," she says, smiling, flicking the steel blade in her hand.

The scream is loud, "Please, have mercy!"

Suddenly, with a mad rush of adrenaline, I rush to grab the steel Alien Artefact from her, wildly stabbing it into someone's heart. Lorelei's.

She doesn't even suffer, she just dies.

She doesn't deserve her quick end.

Claire looks at me with outrage, "Looks like the child of an inhuman can actually fight. I can see it all, you know, your parents, you future, Phillip's future. None of which are particularly pretty."

She's just messing with your mind.

"Don't make me use this on you," I say, charging towards her.

She disappears, suddenly, with Ward. My team searches everywhere.

Once upon a time, I would have sent immediate back-up teams to track them.

Now, the man, crying, screaming on the dingy bed (looks like it was transported from a motel) is all that I care about you.

Moving slowly in, careful not to touch any burnt skin of the naked man, I whisper into his ears, "Don't worry, it's Skye, just come back to me, will you?"

He groans, but works up immediately.

"Skye," He whispers as he opens his eyes, "you shouldn't be here! Please! Hurt me all you want! Dom't touch Skye!"

With remorse, I pull out a syringe and sedate him, though I can see it's doing nothing for the pain.

We reach the Bus relatively safe, I work up Marriage Licences history on my computer, after a long night looking after AC, and, eventually, under Jemma's insistence, sleeping, anxious to get my mind of AC. Fitz is still glaring at him. Despite all he's done for me, AC will still have a little difficulty ever fitting in again, especially since Fury sent me 'instructions' to reinstate AC as Director when he's officially cleared for Combat.

It'll be impossible for them to forgive him without viewing the videos Claire sent me, yet they're too personal. I consider this until Cassandra comes in to the SUV.

"You leaving?" I ask, I kind of liked her as a friend.

"No, not until my brother gets better. You guys need an agent to be called Coulson," she jokes, "but there's something you need to see," she says more seriously, showing me a column on a gossip magazine, run, in fact, by S.H.I.E.L.D. to make sure little extra-terrestrial informations gets out.

Ian Quin to Re-Marry.

Just weeks after his long-time unofficial marriage to Raina Winston, 30, ended, top businessman Ian Quinn has re-married. The new lucky lady is Evelyn Lily Ward, 28.

This is especially surprising, considering a recent death in Ward's family; her elder brother, 'a superbly brave and dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent', Edgar Grant DOuglas Ward was killed in a car accident yesterday.

My heart stops.

Grant Ward is dead.


	9. Chapter 9

Grant Ward is dead.

This makes things both a little more complicated and a easy at the same time. Before I reach a decision, Jemma rushes into the SUV.

"Coulson's clear. Fitz, Triplett and May demand a meeting," she says curtly, before moving off to the briefing area. I sigh. The team isn't going to take the news very well.

I hacked into the recordings of the helicopter, heard what Claire said about the aphrodisiac. He really had absolutely no way to control himself, and was already considered to have done fairly well.

I walk to the briefing hall, and it doesn't take two seconds for May to fire her question.

"Why are you keeping Coulson?" May asks, "He has outlived his usefulness, he deserves his time at Sci-ops and the Fridge."

"You need to see something," I say calmly, playing the voice recording and then starting the video. The team gasps in horror as they realise all he's done to protect me, a pesky 24 year old with a long criminal history and an useless asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Suddenly, we hear a sound from the side of the briefing room.

"Please let me die!" AC whimpers, sliding down the glass of the room.

I run to him immediately.

"Come back, AC, I've got you," I say, whispering, he flinches at my touch, hugging his knees. It hurts to see him so scared of me, but after Claire, I'm certain he's scared of practically everyone.

"PTSD," Jemma says in recognition, running down to the lab to, apparently, get a sedative.

Cassandra kneels at his other side, drawing comforting circles at the back of his back.

"Bro, it's your sister, you've got to calm down," she says calmly, not finishing her actions.

The team watches with uselessness. We've wronged him, May thinks, and now, he's paying the full price for our heartless actions.

Leaning over to me, he silently cries all he's been through for the last 72 hours, and I let him. It's the least I can do for being stupid enough to hate the man I truly love.

When he's done, he' s so tired he falls asleep on my shoulder. With the help of May and Triplett, I gently lift him up and place him on the bed in the med pod.

"Look at him, look how much he's sacrificed, for me! I'll be damned if I don't find Claire. So don't you dare tell me to drop him off at Sci-ops!" I shout at May and Triplett, "As far as I'm concerned, he's still the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., I will listen to him, abide by his orders. Don't want to listen to him? Quit S.H.I.E.L.D., I think the private sector is open for recruitment right now, especially for people of your skills. Dismissed." I say, pushing them out of the Med-pod and locking the door as I watch the man on the bed, face still streaked with tears.

I was too afraid of what my team might feel against AC that I forgot how much the entire experience had hurt him. I turned to hacking because it revealed secrets, but there are some secrets, like my parentage, that come at too high a cost to uncover.

"Listen here AC, I wrote a song about you. I read somewhere that singing can reduce some symptoms of psychiatric disorders. So, here it goes:

What have I done? I wish I could run, from this ship going under. Just trying to help, hurting everyone else. Now I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders. What can you do when your good isn't good enough and all that you touch tumbles down? 'Cause my best intentions, keep making a mess of things. I just wanna make it right. But how many times will it take? Oh, how many times will it take for me to get it right, get it right?"

I stop softly, even though I've only been through the first verse and chorus. It hurts too much to finish the song.

Simmons's Narrative

We watch through the glass windows as we see the hacker singing her song to our boss. No matter what he almost did, all he's sacrificed more than makes up for it.

"She finally found out," May deadpans, looking through the window with her usual stoic expression.

"Found out what?" I ask curiously, May's usually so cryptic I have to ask Skye or Agent Coulson to decrypt her, but both cannot hear her.

"That she loves him. Good thing too, though I don't like the fact that he had to be tortured by a treacherous ex-love for her to find out," she replies, still staring at them.

"You agree with their relationship? Have you forgotten that Agent Coulson tried to rape her 72 hours ago?" I ask in disbelief as Triplett is smiling in agreement with May's words, while Fitz looks as puzzled as I am.

"He never intended to. Phil doesn't have a conversation without mentioning Skye at least 5 times. He loves her, and when he loves somebody, even if she's The Clairvoyant, he couldn't hurt her," May replies, still staring at the sobbing Skye. I agree with her.

I've got Fitz. It might have taken me 5 years to find out, but I've got him. Skye needs somebody, and that body is Agent Coulson.

AC is moved to his bunk in his office after dinner time, I decide to wait by him while the rest go for a game of scrabble, still debating over the word 'aglet'.

Nearing 8 o' clock, AC thrashes against an unseen force. Crying out the dreaded "please let me die!". I wake him immediately, he's eyes snapping open

"Skye?" he asks softly, tears still streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry AC. I just wanted to say, I love you," I drop the bombshell quickly.

"You are?" he smiles a bit, but it's a pained smile. I can see it all in his eyes. He's hurting so badly and giving a strong front, an unhealthy match.

I've never wanted him this badly.

"Skye. It's no use. I've tried everything. The nightmares just keep coming," he says in terror.

He needs comfort, sexual comfort, someone to make him feel alive once again. I pull him in for a kiss, a deep, tongue-to-tongue one, pushing him gently to the bed.

He moans deeply, already turning hard.

"Are you sure?" he asks, terrified. I run back, slapping the door lock command on his desk and move towards him.

There's as much pain as pleasure, he's gripping on to me, afraid he'll go to far and commit the same mistake again.

But I want him. He pulls both our pants just low enough to do the necessary, still paranoid about what he might do. His thrusts are slow and sad, but I offer myself up as the crutch and want, no I need him to use me if it's the only way for him to get the light in his eyes back. He's so scared, so vulnerable, so unlike the Phillip Coulson I know that I'm very, very worried. When we come, he refuses to look into my eyes, still afraid.

Then, the radio switches on, a voice is heard that I didn't think, and certainly didn't want to, hear again.

"Hello Skye," says the voice of Agent Edgar Grant Douglas Ward, "you enjoying yourself with Coulson?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Skye's POV**

Ward is not alive. He cannot be alive. Ward is dead, along with everything he stands for.

Ward is dead.

If he wasn't alive.

We dress quickly as he walks into the room, smirking.

"You left me scarred anyway, don't see why both of you have to have such a reaction," he says, mockingly.

I realise A.C. hasn't spoken. He's paralysed, his face contorted to that of extreme fear. As Ward moves closer, he backs away none-too-subtly, hitting the wall.

"Aww, itsy bitsy Phillip is scared of big ol' mean Ward," he says, laughing with darkness, "How about Agent Skye?" he asks, with mock concern.

"Get away from him, Ward," I say, as firmly as possible but both of us hear the quiver in my voice.

"Or what, Agent Skye? I trained you, I know all your strengths, all your weaknesses, all your quirks, your instincts. Going to fight me?" he asks, his voice low, dangerous, a title I had once craved for now degradatory on his lips.

"I'm fascinated about how you managed to get in, Agent Ward," I shoot back.

He smiles, turning away from A.C., finally.

"You'd be surprised at the skill-set I posses. Cassandra was too easy to get around, when she didn't call red flag it was even easier to escape May and Triplett. Of course I could take down Agents Fitzsimmons easily. Your 'secure' base has the security of a slum," He drawls, evilly, obviously having been given a reboot in his say-what-irks-people-most program.

I reach out for the ICER, "Step away please."

"Yep, and I'll kill him," Ward says, pulling out a knife, putting it to A.C.'s throat.

"What do you want?" I ask, putting my ICER down in defeat. I notice Ward does not put down his knife.

"I want you, Skye. You're good at computers, Claire wants you. This is the only way I can deliver you to her. It's that simple," he says, almost as if he's ordering Starbucks, "So, you come along with me, or he dies."

I look at A.C., his eyes screwed shut, obviously terrified and attempting not to go back to the images he's been given.

"I'll kill you for this!" A.C.'s eyes snap open, a wild, frightening look in his eyes I haven't seen before and don't ever want to see again as he shouts the words with the rage of a pre-civilisation being. He kicks Ward down, pulling the knife out of his hand as he chases the ex-specialist, blocking every punch, every kick with alarming accuracy.

I run after the two men as they fight their way out of the room and down the corridor. I can't let A.C. turn into the monster he's not.

Ward runs at an alarming speed but A.C. has home-ground advantage. He chases the traitor down the corridor, but is jumped by Ward, who swiftly puts him in a choke hold.

A.C. pulls out the knife and cuts his arm.

"Gah!" Ward utters, as A.C. takes advantage of his vulnerable moment and flips Ward to the ground, fighting his arms to slit his throat.

"Thank your SO for teaching me this move," A.C. says drawling in a similar tone to that of Ward, "Oh, I forgot, he's dead," his smile is mocking, unlike anything I've ever seen grace the features of the man.

"But I'm not Garrett," A.C. says, letting Ward go as Ward backs away, before turning around to jog out.

I almost breathe in a sigh of relief. Almost.

I watch in shock as A.C. hurls the knife at the back of the jogging man.

Ward slumps to the floor, blood gathering on his back. He's not breathing. He's lifeless. His heart is torn in two.

All while his murderer turns and walks away calmly, never once looking back.

"May, you've got to help," I say, dashing into the lab, where I see Simmons treating the rather banged-up Cassandra and Fitz, May and Triplett worriedly in the lab as well.

"What's the problem?" May asks, standing up from her seat immediately, "Coulson in any form of trouble?"

"No, Ward's dead," I say, attempting to keep my voice level.

"What? What happened?" May asks, walking immediately to me.

"I don't know. Coulson suddenly went berserk. He just raged at Ward, mocking him and Garrett, then he pretended to let Ward go, and suddenly, before i even knew what was happening, he hurled the knife at Ward and killed him," I say, subconsciously putting my hands above my ears, "I'm scared this is GH-325 speaking."

"I've got to see him, then," May says, walking out the door immediately.

"Melinda, wait up!" her first name strikes her attention so she turns around, "This man isn't the Coulson you used to know. He managed to kill Grant Fucking Ward. He's a master assassin all of a sudden. He will attempt to kill you."

"He might try to kill me, but he won't be able to," May says, firmly, turning around.

"You didn't see him just now. It was like Agent Phillip Coulson didn't even exist, just some monster in his place," I shudder involuntarily, "At least let me be your backup."

May nods, and moves to a drawer nearby, and pulls out a gun.

"This is a gun," I say, staring at it.

"Yep," she says, casually.

"It's not an ICER," I say.

"Yep, " she says, "Can we move now?"

"Shouldn't we bring an ICER?" I ask, understanding the implications.

"No," May breathes, her calm facade finally shattering, "If this is really the after-effects of the GH-325 we can't put Coulson on ice, we'll have to put two in the back of his head."

"Should I do that to myself to?" I ask, putting the gun to my head, "Because the drug is in my system too."

"No, Skye, please don't be difficult. Fine, take an ICER, just don't put that pistol to your head," May says, pulling out an ICER for me to exchange my gun.

"Coulson, it's me," May says, knocking on the door.

"Fuck off May," comes the reply.

Another knock.

"Come in," he says, defeatedly.

Both of us enter, guns hidden but within a quick distance.

"Get out," he says, not looking upwards.

He's a mess, seated on his bed, hair already tousled, when he looks up, we see the remnants of steady tears.

"GH-325, resurrection, Audrey, Garrett, I guess I deserved all of it," he says, as he watches me subtly move behind.

But May is subtler than that. She's out the room, locking it.

I move behind and grasp at the doorknob but it won't open.

"You're scared of me?" A.C., hang that, he isn't A.C., Coulson says, looking up to me with so much pain in his eyes it's physically impossible for me not to sympathise with him.

"I'm a monster, aren't I? First I try to rape you, now I murder Ward in cold blood, what's happening to me?" he asks, tears brimming in his blue eyes, "Maybe I should just die off, people who get close to me end up in bad shape."

"A.C., we're going to find a solution together. When Audrey, Claire or whoever the hell she is comes by our doorstep, we're going to be ready. And we're going to give her a piece of our mind," I say, staring into his eyes.

I move onto the bed, and hug him close.

Is it the end of the world?

How else can there be such a life-ending, soul-shattering kiss?

He pushes me away.

"No, Skye. I'm a murderer. I'm an attempted rapist. I don't deserve someone like you. I don't want you to end up with a 'Ward'," he breathes, "For the sake of my sanity, I don't think I could do this with you."

I stare at him.

"I insist," I say, playfully, but there's too much doubt in the senior agent's eyes.

Suddenly, a computer screen springs to life with a video.

"Hello, Phillip," drawls his Cellist, "Give me Ward or the whole of the people in the Hub die."

The video jumps immediately to the video of a bomb and an entire lockdown of the Hub, many frantic in fright.

"Where do I find you?" A.C. asks immediately.

"Ask Ward to drive, he'll know."


	11. Chapter 11

**Cassandra's POV**

"My brother's a good man, Skye," I tell the Director/Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who's sitting in the SUV with me.

"Is he? I mean, I love him, but then I don't love him, you know? He has a way of making me love him and not love him, keeping me at the edge of my seat. I'm not sure I really appreciate that," Skye confesses.

It strikes me that there is something wrong with the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. She seems too guarded in my brother, who undoubtedly loves her. Didn't he suffer through days of torture to protect her? Sure, he hurt her feelings, but it'd still been because of something else, hadn't it? Skye is obviously out-going and friendly, what happens to this attitude when it comes to love?

"My brother's a good man. You've got to believe he loves you. He had you track down the Cellist's location. He volunteered to return the body, even though you volunteered. The Cellist will not hesitate to hurt anyone on the team. I'm sure you know the implications if he volunteered?" I say, coldly.

The ex-Rising Tide member gives me a cold, piercing look, before weakening.

She tells me of Ward, of his betrayal, and I can't help but notice some similarities in his and my brother's stories.

"I seem to keep attracting bad men," she says, slumping in the seat.

"Bad men? My brother's not a bad man, Skye. He might have done some questionable things in the past, but we can all agree The Cellist had something to do with it. But he's always loved you. Do you know how many times I caught him freaking out in his office when you were still running the hack?" I say.

"Freaking out?" she asks incredulously.

"Sometimes he just had a breakdown, knowing he had to return to The Cellist. It lasted about 5 minutes each time. I've never seen him so vulnerable, even when dad died. Whenever I even suggested that he not go, he always replied with a desperate, 'If I don't go, Skye'll. I can't let her. You know me well, Cass. I was would go through much more than I've gone through to make sure she never has to deal with The Cellist ever again'. He might have said he'd go through much more, but I don't think he can. He's almost broken, Skye. Don't throw that away," I suggest, opening the door to the SUV, leaving her alone to mull over all the words I'd just said.

_Eight Hours Later_

"Where's Coulson?" Skye asks, anxiety obvious in her tone as she walks down to the cargo ramp, where the rest of the team is sitting down.

"Hasn't reported back yet," Melinda says, keeping her voice as level as possible.

"Hasn't reported back yet? He what? He was supposed to report back four hours ago!" Skye shouts, obviously agitated.

"Believe me, Skye, when I say I'm just as worried as you're," Melinda says, staring into Skye's fiercely worried eyes.

"Doubtful," she mutters, "The Cellist didn't send a hostage message, so it means he didn't get kidnapped. He most likely didn't jump ship, he didn't pack anything," her eyes widen in terror as she realises the only other possibility, "Please don't tell me he's dead in a ditch!"

Suddenly, a buzzer sound rings through.

My brother's signal.

Skye wirelessly opens the cargo ramp immediately.

My brother stumbles onto the platform. His shirt is bloodied, his trousers creepily drenched with blood, he obviously took a shot or knife while returning Ward's body.

"Oh my gosh, Phil," Skye says, rushing towards him, holding his unsteady body. The significance of the name she uses does not escape me.

The team rushes to surround him, Jemma instantly dashing into the lab to prepare medical items for my brother's treatment. He limps painfully, wincing as Skye and I help him towards the lab.

"The Cellist did this to you?" Skye asks immediately, as Jemma examines a bullet wound in his knee.

"No, Frederica and Evelyn. She gave them some sort of drug that enslaved them. Made them shoot at me. I somehow managed to escape, though. I ran, fired a couple ICERs at them, found a car, hotwired it and drove. Car broke down perhaps a few miles away from here, so I had to walk back," He says, shuddering.

I know what it's like. Frederica was a very dear friend of his.

Just over ten years ago, she was his girlfriend. But it had ended messy. She had been kidnapped for the sole purposes of making him turn against S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. being S.H.I.E.L.D., the threat was disposed off with a bullet through the head, but it was decided that the relationship was too risky to be continued; Frederica was an important administration personnel, my brother a strategic expert, both highly respected assets of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He was then reassigned to be May, an already old-time friend,'s strategic partner, while Frederica turned to becoming a department head. they remained close friends, but there was never anything out of platonic ever again. It took my brother over eight years to start another relationship, with The Cellist.

Strange how the women he attracts always seem to turn against him in the end.

After a while, Jemma finishes up her first-aid, with strict instructions of rest. Skye immediately volunteers to help bring him, leaving the rest of the team waiting in the lab.

"How's Skye doing, about Coulson?" May asks, looking straight at me.

"What do you mean? I've known her for less than a week. Shouldn't you be telling me?" I retort, raising my eyebrows. I have the knowledge, obviously, but they'd pretty much have to kill to get it from me. I don't believe in betraying anyone's trust, even a new girl who I've just met.

May shoots me a look, but says nothing when I still refuse to speak up. Her face relaxes slightly, and I even the beginnings of admiration in her eyes. She'd, after all, betrayed someone close to her before, and, from what I have figured out, she now greatly respects all those who have loyalty.

Suddenly, there is a pounding outside the plane.

"Who is it?" I shout out, cautiously.

"Agent Evelyn Lily Ward, with S.H.I.E.L.D." she says, "And I've got some information that all of you might just kill for."

**Skye's POV**

Once Coulson is in his office, seated on his bunk, I shut the door, double bolting it.

"What's happening?" he asks, on instinct apparently, eyes betraying a high level of discomfort.

"Out with it Coulson," I snap, closing in on him.

He shoots me a false-inquisitive look.

"Don't give me that look! You had ICERs. You managed to ice them. You're an experienced S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent while Frederica came from Administration and Evelyn came from Sci-Tech, none of them trained in combat. You let yourself get shot!" I shout.

He looks away for a moment, before muttering, "I deserved it."

"Really Coulson?" I ask sarcastically, wringing my hands, "You deserved to get shot in the kneecaps, walking for miles? You deserved that type of torture? "

"I deserved two in the back of the head!" he refutes, desperately, moving forward, almost as if to touch me before jerking back, holding tightly onto his bedsheets, "I betrayed the team! I hurt you! I killed a defenceless man! Ward did these things, and you thought he deserved to die."

I look at him squarely.

"Are you f*cking kidding me, Coulson? You don't ever decide whether you deserve to live or die ever again, because, trust me, you'll make the wrong decision," I snap, "You were influenced by something. I don't know what, but every time you pull a Ward you later admit you had no control over your bodily autonomy. And we're going to find out just what the hell happened. Together. Don't you dare try to give yourself what you think you deserve again! One person or the whole universe, they're all worth saving. Especially you!"

It's easier to be agitated than to love.

He releases the bedsheets, pulling me in tentatively for an embrace, "I'd like to think that."

He doesn't let go for a long time. I don't want him to.


End file.
